


witnessed by no waking eye

by SyntheticRevenge



Category: Campaign (Podcast)
Genre: Coping, Gen, Immortal Feelings, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Canon, Probably canon divergent but I don't know
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:53:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27663647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SyntheticRevenge/pseuds/SyntheticRevenge
Summary: So there the four of them were, on an island with two dead men and one very big problem. Gable sheathed their sword, cursing softly, eyeing Travis like it was somehow his fault. Dref just stood there in shock, both hands pressed tightly over his mouth, eyes impossibly wide and fixed on Orimar. He twitched slightly every few seconds, like he wanted to go to Orimar’s side but didn’t dare move.Jonnit, the kid, the fucking stowaway, shouldn’t have even been on the island--he was the one to finally break the standoff.“He’s dead, isn’t he?”(Four skyjacks, an island, and a plan)
Relationships: Gable & Jonnit Kessler & Travis Matagot & Dref Wormwood, Orimar Vale & Dref Wormwood
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	witnessed by no waking eye

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't listened to this show in a bit, but I listened to what exists of the new arc in one go today and I'm back to having big feelings. If this is already canon divergent, I apologize, I just wanted to write what popped into my head about what happened on the island. Title from the Decemberists (go figure).
> 
> CW: alcohol

The truth is, Gable killed Calavar before Travis had a chance to react to what just happened. All he could do was twitch in surprise and blink as Orimar fell, and then Gable cleaved through Calavar’s body with a vengeance, and there was nothing to consider anymore.

Maybe he would’ve joined the mutiny. He doesn’t know. Never seemed like there was any point in thinking it through.

So there the four of them were, on an island with two dead men and one  _ very _ big problem. Gable sheathed their sword, cursing softly, eyeing Travis like it was somehow  _ his _ fault. Dref just stood there in shock, both hands pressed tightly over his mouth, eyes impossibly wide and fixed on Orimar. He twitched slightly every few seconds, like he wanted to go to Orimar’s side but didn’t dare move.

Jonnit, the kid, the fucking stowaway, shouldn’t have even  _ been _ on the island--he was the one to finally break the standoff.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?”

His voice was small. Travis didn’t bother turning his head to look at the kid, and Dref couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from Orimar, but Gable at least did Jonnit the courtesy of eye contact.

“Yes,” they said, simply, voice low and rough, stuck in their throat. 

“Extremely, I think,” Travis added. 

Dref started breathing harder, faster, hyperventilating into his hands until he finally sank to the damp ground. “I--” he started, still not dropping his hands, then shook his head. 

“Well,” Travis said, sighing. “This is one horrifically shrieking hell of a situation we’re in, I’d say.”

“Were you in on this?” Gable asked, pulling their sword back out and levelling it on Travis, who cocked his head and took a step back, hands up.

“Sorry, do I look like I have  _ any _ fucking clue what’s going on here?” Travis snapped, raising his chin. “Kill me. Add another body to the pile. At least I won’t have to deal with whatever fucking archaic pirate tribunal they’ll give us when we get back.”

“Do--do we  _ have _ to go back?” Jonnit asked, voice still absolutely miniscule.

“Yes,” Dref managed, through his hands, then resumed hyperventilating.

“Why did you come with us?” Gable asked, focused on Travis, still not dropping their sword.

“Because the captain asked me to and I thought it would be rude to say no to such a distinguished fucking gentleman,” Travis said. “Does it  _ matter _ ?”

“You knew, didn’t you.”

“I already said I didn’t.”

“You’re also a liar,” Gable said, and Travis sighed, heavily.

“I can’t argue, but I promise I’m telling you the truth,” he said. “We’ve known each other a  _ long  _ time, Gable, I--”

“Not well.”

“Killing me won’t solve a damned  _ thing _ ,” Travis said.

“He--he’s r-right.” Dref finally dropped his hands and took several sharp, quick breaths through his nose. “It w--it won’t. N-n-nothing will, if--Orimar--” He shook his head, hugging himself.

“Besides,” Travis said, with a bit more of a flourish than was probably appropriate for the situation, “if you kill me, you won’t get to hear about my fantastic plan to get us out of this.”

“You don’t have a plan,” Gable sighed, rolling their eyes and re-sheathing their sword. “Don’t waste our time.”

“I  _ do _ , actually.”

“What is it?” Jonnit asked, softly, and Travis finally turned to look at the kid. His eyes were wide and scared and full of hope, and Travis came dangerously close to having an emotion about the whole situation for a brief moment.

“Well, we happen to be lucky enough to have a necromancer with us,” Travis said. 

“ _ No _ ,” Dref said, clearly and forcefully, looking up at Travis with burning eyes. “I--I c-c--the--the  _ energy _ , and--and--it’s not--it’s not  _ right _ t-t-to--”

“It’ll save our lives,” Travis said. “And what do you care about  _ right _ ? I’ve seen you--”

“What I do in--in the privacy of my--I  _ experiment _ , but that’s--that’s not--” Dref sighed heavily in frustration. “Orimar is a  _ person _ , with--with  _ agency _ , and--"

“Was,” Gable said, looking back at his body, the blood slowly pooling around him. “I think...Travis is right. If you can manage it, you should.”

“A-and  _ then _ what? We--we--we go around w-w-with a  _ corpse _ as our captain? We--”

“It doesn’t need to be for long,” Travis said, waving a hand. “We can fake him dying of something else that very much couldn’t be our fault after we get out of this, but the priority now, for me, at least, is not getting hanged by our dear crewmates.”

“He--I have to--” Dref sighed again, visibly trying to gather his thoughts. “I would have t-to  _ program _ him, his actions, it’s--what would we need him to--to  _ do _ once he gets back to the ship?”

“We can tell them what happened to Calavar,” Gable said. “He and Orimar were close, it’s not unreasonable that Orimar wouldn’t be up to speaking about it. He just needs to--I don’t know. Walk and nod and look sad.”

“We can’t tell them it was a mutiny,” Travis said, shaking his head. “Then it looks even fucking worse if they find out Orimar’s dead. Like we killed both of them to gain control of the ship.”

“Then what do we say?”

“That we were attacked,” Travis said, shrugging. 

“And Calavar died, but we all survived?” Gable asked. “Do you really think they’ll believe that?”

“He was scouting ahead by himself,” Jonnit said. “He couldn’t take ‘em all on his own, but the five of us were fine.”

“Nice, kid,” Travis said, tapping his temple and then pointing at Jonnit. 

“I--I’m not a-a-a  _ skilled _ liar,” Dref said. 

“Then don’t say anything,” Gable said, fairly gently, for them. “We’ll handle it.”

“You just work on getting the big man walking,” Travis said.

“I…it will take time,” Dref said.

“That’s fine,” Travis said. “We can work on our story.”

* * *

The hours on the island were long and tiring, but worth it, in the end. They all looked--and  _ felt _ \--appropriately harrowed by the time they got back up to the ship. Dref was near collapsing from all of the effort expended reanimating the captain, and Gable kept a hand hovering behind him to nudge him upright.

Watching Dref work had been fascinating and horrific all at once. The love and care he put into it was somehow the most frightening part, that he was going against nature so gently and methodically. 

“He loved him,” Gable had muttered to Travis, watching Dref run a hand over Orimar’s face.

“You  _ think _ ?” was Travis’s too-loud and sarcastic response. He was finally quiet now, though, in the captain’s quarters, drinking Orimar’s best rum and shuffling a deck of cards endlessly.

The lies had flowed easily from Travis and Jonnit. Gable hadn’t had to do much work. They were honestly a little unsettled by how quickly the kid took to it and how good he was at it. He was also quiet after making it past the initial barrage of shocked questions, sitting in the corner of the quarters with a map spread out on the floor next to him, tracing a finger over it.

Dref worked on the captain, and Gable watched at a respectful distance, with nothing else to do, mind still blank with dull shock and horror. 

Travis came to sit next to them, eventually, offering them the bottle. “We could all use a drink,” he said, and Gable grunted in thanks, taking it and drinking deep.

“Dref?” they asked, holding the bottle out in his direction. He turned, looking surprised, then shook his head, setting his focus back on Orimar’s body.

“I think we should play Illimat,” Travis said, sniffing hard and standing up, grabbing his deck back off of Orimar’s desk and flicking through it with a satisfying  _ thwick _ . “What do you say, kid?”

“Uh…” Jonnit said, looking a bit trapped.

“It’s not really the time to--” Gable started, attempting to save him, but Travis whirled on them.

“Then when  _ is _ the time?” Travis asked. “Last I heard, people played games to enjoy themselves and lighten up, and I  _ really _ think that us folks here in this room could use that.”

“Dref’s working--”

“And he can take a break!” Travis said. “I find Illimat clears my mind. Tells me a bit about how to proceed, too.”

“You could just do a reading,” Gable said.

“Less fun.”

“I’ll play,” Jonnit said, shrugging one shoulder and pushing himself off the ground, sitting in Orimar’s huge chair and leaning his elbows on the desk.

“The kid’s playing,” Travis said, raising an eyebrow at Gable, who sighed.

“Will it shut you up?”

“Yes,” Travis said, nodding resolutely.

“Then fine,” Gable said, shaking their head and pulling a chair up to the desk.

“Dref?” Travis asked.

“I’m busy,” Dref said, absently. 

“You must be  _ exhausted _ ,” Travis said. “Sit. Play. You’ll feel better.”

“I feel f-f- _ fine _ .”

“Orimar can  _ wait _ .”

“Can he?” Dref snapped back, turning to Travis with genuine anger in his eyes. “This was  _ your _ p-p-plan, and it’s  _ barbaric _ , and--”

“And you’re really proud of yourself for pulling it off.”

Dref exhaled the rest of the air he was saving to finish his sentence. “I am.”

“Then celebrate,” Travis said, smirking.

“Fine.”

Travis splayed the Luminaries and held them out to each of them in turn, letting them pull one and place it on the board. “That way it’s a reading  _ and _ a game,” he said, by way of explanation, when Jonnit looked at him inquisitively.

They played. The Island showed its face every round, the others an assortment of ill omens. The River, the Butcher, the Rake--bad signs each and every one.

Still, though, Travis was right. The game was a comfort. Dref ended up winning, Travis accused him of using magic to cheat, and Jonnit ended up actually laughing, so they all ended better than they started. It was almost enough to forget what they did. What they started.

“There’s choices you can’t ever take back,” Gable said to Travis, somewhat absently, as he cleaned up the game. Jonnit was back to his map, and Dref was back to Orimar.

“What would life be if you could?” Travis asked. “All we are is consequences.”

“We’ll be fine,” Gable said. “You and I, I mean.”

“We always are.”

“But them--” Gable sighed. “They’re children. We shouldn’t have let them do this.”

“The alternative was almost certain death, we did them a favor.” Travis sighed, reaching up to put a hand on Gable’s shoulder. “It’s a good plan, and it’s going to work.”

“And what do the Luminaries think?” Gable asked, raising an eyebrow.

Travis shuffled, closed his eyes, and pulled. He looked at the card, face unchanging, then shuffled it back in, putting the cards away without saying a word.

“You’re not going to tell me?”

“They don’t know  _ everything _ ,” Travis said. “My money’s on us.”

“I hope you’re right.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! All feedback is appreciated.  
> Find me on tumblr @witnesstotheend


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